Google and "unique" pages?

[Manc]

I heard that from 2008 onwards, Google started to crack down hard on any sites that "mimic" other sites.

So lets say a website does a huge review on lets say (making this up now) "Magic Shoes" that are supposedly more comfortable than any other shoe... now, what if there is already a site with a "review" on it and you just copy wholesale the entire page of say a thousand word review?

Before 2008 you were fine doing this (from what I read) but after 2008, forget it, Google will actually deliberately make sure your page ranks LOW.

So to get around this I read some people are translating the text into another language, then back into English, to make the words seem different... this to me is just really lazy for a start and all you will end up with by doing this is a web page full of complete gibberish.

So, I approached it differently - if you have a good knowledge of English and meanings, its really easy to do.

EXAMPLE:

I am promoting the Tesla Secret book, and of course found a "review" (the affiliate's own what else lol) here are the first 2 paragraphs of the page:

The first time I heard about the Tesla Secret web site at <removed> I was really intrigued by what it has to offer. Nikola Tesla has been one of my all time favorite scientist of the early 19th century. He was a real genius of his time and his invention actually helped usher the Second Industrial Revolution.

However, some people believe there is a conspiracy by the government to keep some of Tesla’s invention away from the public. They believe large electricity companies are suppressing Tesla’s invention which is capable of generating free electricity via the Tesla generator.

I know if I just copy this text, Google might rank my page lower than it would be if I never even put this text on my page at all? I don't want to take that risk, so check out this... where I changed most words but kept the review exactly what it is meant to be - a coherent review...

When I originally saw the above Tesla Secret book a few weeks ago, I was curious about the whole thing. Nikola Tesla is almost like a hero to the masses, trying to find a way to create free energy.

Considering that he was around more than 100 years ago, he was vastly ahead of his time. Not just a genius but a genius that used his mind in the right way. It was Tesla's invention that allowed the 2nd Industrial Revolution.

Some people think there is a cover up by the government to keep Tesla’s secrets and lesser known inventions out of the public's hands. They think big electric companies are suppressing Tesla’s invention, which is able to generate free electric through the Tesla generator.

If you read the first one then the second and keep flicking from one to the other you can see the two are similar but most keywords are changed around.

Is doing this enough to "fool" Google?

Most will say "buy the ebook and write a review that really is all your own work" but I can't, I haven't even got that much money to my name right now let alone have it spare to spend on stuff like this.

I just wondered if there is a better way to get around the Google thing where they penalize for pages that mimic other pages.

Strictly speaking, I am doing exactly that, but is it different enough to make Google think it is good content as opposed to copying? Come on, there is only so much Google can do, they can only be so strict before they would be taking down perfectly legitimate pages.

[Oxbloom]

It's amazing what you can do with a good knowledge of Engliah and meanings.

[BacklinkExcellence]

If you are wondering if your content is unique enough by simply changing around a couple of words or using synonyms here and there: no, it's not enough.

However, I still have quite a few properties ranking highly with either crap content, spun content, 100% dupe content and no content at all. Not sure how the results are going to be after their latest anti-spam update but so far I haven't seen any drops yet. Just try it out, if it doesn't work you can always come in back later, edit the page and replace the dupe by a unique review.

[Manc]

Maybe it is irrelevant but I can't be sure, it makes sense to not just copy stuff word for word.

What do article writers do... go to a library and get a book? You could probably type that out verbatim and have a unique site... until the author finds it that is, but how likely is that. Of course it would be illegal to do such a thing anyway.

[BrianMcLeod]

Originally Posted by Manc

Of course it would be illegal to do such a thing anyway.

Now we're getting to the heart of the matter.

[bcturner]

It's all about external links - they'll show your site even if it's a copy, but it needs to respected by other sites - even if artificially

[Taktical]

Originally Posted by Manc

Strictly speaking, I am doing exactly that, but is it different enough to make Google think it is good content as opposed to copying? Come on, there is only so much Google can do, they can only be so strict before they would be taking down perfectly legitimate pages.

Thats actually exactly what happens. Google will sandbox duplicate content on different sites, but in reality Google has no way of knowing who posted the original content, so the more trusted site normally wins out.

To avoid the sandbox, its no longer enough just to spin synonyms. Google has recently added an algo that allows it to account for several variables including:

sentence synonymity
paragragh / sentence length
paragragh / sentence count
word count
header tags

The answer? When you are spinning articles or rewriting them by hand, you must make sure to also vary the length of the paragraphs, the number of paragraphs, the number of sentences, the meaning of sentences, and the types of header tags used on the page. Most good spinner software support this type of work.

This technique has gotten me a lot of stuff well indexed and ranked.

[jikanv]

I don't think every article on the web can be unique. Our average vocabulary consist of just a few hundred words at most in all of our life. When you write something about a product or service there can only be so many words used to describe it, before it gets repeated again. Else every time you use a quotation, your site would go to the bottom as duplicate content.

The marketing is the one that brings it to the top. The most or best marketed gets to the top the least and worst marketed gets to the "sandbox".

I think Google's algo is more of a myth than practicality. Of course they filter and screen but they only have so much room for manipulating the search results.